I've seen people trying to remove the heatspreader on memory modules, but ending up with tearing off one or several memory chips doing so.

You did good, Brian.

Thanks Nutman, yeah I was hesitant at first, but felt better after the first one came off without incident. Slow and constant pressure is what did the trick!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Father-Time

/Blushes....

Brilliant work so far Boddaker, fantastic design and luverly hardware

Thanks Father-Time!

Quote:

Originally Posted by B NEGATIVE

The secret is a heatgun on low,soften up those beauties before ripping their clothes off

Ahh, good idea. I'll do that next time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by THRASHER2

I love the EK EyE Candy

Thanks Anthony, more eye candy coming up...

Planning out the plumbing on the backside of the Cruizer. I'm going with stainless steel tubing, to simulate automotive fuel/brake lines. Should look pretty sweet! But before running the lines, I had to figure out the best placement for the wc components. It's amazing that even on a cavernous case such as the Cosmos II, I still had to deal with clearance issues lol.

I'll be running two separate loops: CPU/motherboard/ram, and graphics cards. I got the 420mm EK radiator up top cooling the CPU loop, and the 280mm EK rad in the GFX loop. I figure the 680s won't be putting out as much heat as the processor, especially since I want to do some OCing this time. Both loops go into the EK 250mm X3 res, with one line connecting the res to the dual pumps. Then the two loops split off again from there. I'm a little concerned about the bottleneck there, but I'm trying to eliminate any unnecessary tubing where possible. And with the dual D5 pumps, I'm hoping it will be a non-issue. Lemme know what you guys think.

Didnt know EK had these adapters....love them. And great job offcourse , subbed all the way

Thank you Richard! Yeah I didn't know they had those either, I just stumbled across them on their website. They are exactly what I needed!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragulax99

amazing job ..cant wait to see more updates ...

Thanks Dragulax, I'll have an update for you in a little bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PcJunkie209

Quit teasing us Brian!! Looking great bro!

Sorry about the teasers, but I haven't been able to do much real work due to the cold weather. So I've been spending most of my time planning and preparing. Eventually, I'll have something more interesting to show!

After designing out the plumbing in Sketchup, I've been placing the real parts in the case, to verify my plan will work as it is layed out. So far things have been lining up with minimal adjustments.

Here are the 280 and 420 radiators from EK. These things are massive, at 2" thick, but they fill the Cosmos II nicely.

Got my stack of 140mm fans plus a 200mm intake fan for the case.

Trying the fans out on the 280 rad, and placing it in the case.

The top 420 rad will go up top, but just barely.

As you can see from the side, the radiator will need to be mounted lower into the case so it fits below the bezel. The Cosmos II only has provisions for a 360mm radiator, so I'd have to cut the top panel anyway.

Lastly, here is a shot of the Koolance quick disconnect fittings I'll be using to connect the custom manifold, along with the Koolance 1/2" pipe adapters and EK 90º elbow fittings.

And I've got more fittings on the way! I found some really awesome push fittings from E22 that will be a perfect fit for this project...

They also carry the 12mm rigid tubing I'll be using along with these fittings. So as soon as I get those in, I'll be able to get the custom manifold together and mounted on the hardware. Can't wait!

I cut out the top panel to fit the 420mm EK radiator. You can see the size difference between it and the stock provisions for a 360mm rad.

Here is the radiator set in place with a couple fans to check height clearance.

I also checked the lower radiator clearance. To do this, I set the fiberglass form into the case to give me an idea where the actual fiberglass piece will be. Right now the rad is resting on the form, so it will need to raise up just a bit to clear. I still have about 1/4" room above the fans on top, so I think I'm good.

This weekend, I'll file the edges down and get the mounting brackets made up for this rad as well as the lower 280mm rad.

Firstly, I got the top radiator mounts made. After measuring how far the rad could go, I cut and bent these four mounts.

These will mount to the center fan holes on each side of the rad.

And it fits into the case thusly. I still have to add holes to the brackets where they will be fastened to the case.

Using my flexible curve to simulate where the top piece will be, you can see how much clearance I will have over the fans once it's all said and done.

Here's a front shot of the rad & fans.

Now comes the major part of the update. I took the plunge and got the side panel laid up with fiberglass today. It was pretty warm the whole weekend, so I figured I'd give it a go. Here's a shot of all the materials I had to acquire: Resin, catalyst, gel coat, curing agent, cabosil (a thickener), assorted brushes, mixing cups, roller, dispersing pump, measuring squeeze bottle, mixer, gloves, and not shown are the paste wax and PVA mold release.

And of course, the fiberglass cloth. I got some heavy duty strand mat and 4oz cloth.

Before I could start any of this, I had to prep the form. After sanding up to 1000 grit, I used some meguire's car polish on it. Then I waxed the whole thing four times. After that, I sprayed it with 2 coats of PVA mold release. That was Saturday.

Sunday morning I got the fiberglass cloth pre-cut and clamped the side bezel down around the form.

After everything was set up and ready, I started brushing on the gel-coat. This was the point of no return, since the cloth had to go on as soon as the gel-coat was tack-free. Then each subsequent layer of cloth had to follow non-stop until it was finished.

After the gel-coat set up, I mixed up some resin with the cabosil thickener to make a paste, then worked it into the tight corners and overhangs where air bubbles were sure to form.

After the paste, it was time for the first layer of fiberglass. Starting with the heavy duty strand mat, I layed it over the form and added the resin.

This took a good two cups of resin to saturate the mat.

Next layer was the 4oz cloth. Procedure was the same, adding resin where needed, saturating the cloth.

After three layers of cloth, I added a few scrap pieces to reinforce the corners and overlap the joints. Then I mixed up one last small batch of resin, this time with the curing agent, which helps the final surface cure without being tacky.

After a few hours under the heat lamps, it was rock hard and smooth. Time to demold! I turned the form upside down and removed the aluminum sheet, exposing the layered foam.

After working the edges, it became apparent I was not going to be able to save the form, so I proceeded to remove it one foam layer at a time.

After two layers of foam, I was able to pop the remaining piece of the form out of the fiberglass.

And there ya go. Thanks to the 4 coats of wax and 2 coats of PVA, I had no trouble with sticking.

behold! A one-piece fiberglass side panel!

Now this thing is not totally without its flaws. Upon closer inspection, there are countless air bubbles and a few spots where the gel-coat was too thin. But I can mix up some more of the resin paste and fill those areas back in. And I will undoubtedly have a bunch of bodywork to do before this thing is ready for paint.

But I think for the most part, it came out really well considering this was my first fiberglassing adventure.

I have to say, the more I start looking at those new EKWB blocks, the more I'm starting to like them. Nice progress mate! Keep 'em coming!

The OCD in me dislikes that the circles don't line up with where the threads are so you intersecting circles. Plus I am not a fane of the circles really - which is shame as the overall design of a lot of the EK stuff is really nice - but without the circles it would be even better!!